{{Short description|German chemist (1808–1871)}} thumb|Julius Fedorovich Fritsche - chemist, member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. '''Carl Julius Fritzsche''' (17 October 1808 in Neustadt – 8 June 1871) was a German pharmacist and chemist. He was a nephew of pharmacist Friedrich Adolph August Struve (1781–1840).
After five years spent working at his uncle's pharmacy in Dresden, he moved to Berlin, where he worked for two and a half years in the laboratory of chemist Johann Gottfried August Helming (1770–1830). In 1830 he became an assistant to Eilhard Mitscherlich at Berlin, subsequently receiving his doctorate with a thesis on pollen, ''Dissertatio de plantarum polline'' (1833). In 1844 he became an associate professor in St. Petersburg, where in 1852 he attained a full professorship.<ref name=AD>[http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Fritzsche,_Karl_Julius ADB: Fritzsche, Karl Julius] at Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EV4oAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Carl+Julius+Fritzsche%22+Dresden&pg=PA132 Google Books] Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft, Volume 5</ref>
In his studies of anthracene, he discovered that "paranthracene" was an isomeric modification of anthracene when anthracene was exposed to sunlight.<ref name=AD/> Also, he was able to obtain the crystalline compounds of picric acid with hydrocarbons (benzene, naphthalene, etc.)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=WdxBAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Fritzsche%22+%22picric+acid%22+hydrocarbons&pg=PA405 A Dictionary of Chemistry and the Allied Branches of Other Sciences, Volume 4] by Henry Watts</ref> In addition, he studied the nature of murexide and recognized it as the ammonium salt of purpuric acid.<ref name=AD/>
He is credited with coining the term "aniline" from the Sanskrit word for the indigo plant. In 1841 he obtained aniline by distilling indigo with caustic potash.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=UdP_sSKIxf0C&dq=Fritzsche+Sanskrit+aniline+1841&pg=PA137 Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Costume] by Doreen Yarwood</ref> The mineral "fritzscheite" in named in his honor.<ref>[http://www.mindat.org/min-1611.html Mindat.org] Classification of Fritzscheite</ref>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fritzsche, Carl Julius}} Category:1808 births Category:1871 deaths Category:People from Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge Category:Scientists from the Kingdom of Saxony Category:German pharmacists Category:19th-century German chemists Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni